Flurry of state legislature activity would promote religion in public schools

State legislatures across the country are back in session. As has become the norm in recent years, they are introducing troubling bills that, if enacted, will harm the cause of religious liberty for all. Several states are reintroducing legislation that was previously defeated. Many are considering bills we have seen debated in other states in recent years.

Here’s an overview of some of the efforts I am watching:

• In Iowa, a bill is moving through the House that would authorize school districts to employ chaplains to provide student support services to public schoolchildren. House File 334 has passed out of the House Education Committee by a vote of 14-9 and now heads to the full House for debate. Similar to controversial legislation enacted in Texas last year, the measure does not clarify the qualifications for serving in public schools as a chaplain. An Iowa subcommittee advanced similar legislation last year, but it did not advance beyond that. 

• Nebraska’s Education Committee is considering a similar bill and generating the same concerns over the lack of training and certification required to serve as a school chaplain. On February 24, the committee held a hearing on the bill (LB 549) but no action was taken. 

• Mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools has been a popular area of legislative activity this year after Louisiana became the first state to enact such a law last year. That measure is the subject of a constitutional challenge – Roake v. Brumley – which is currently before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ten Commandments in public schools bills have been proposed in Kentucky, Nebraska, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Oklahoma. 

• There are some states who are rejecting the misguided idea of mandating the Ten Commandments in public schools. BJC sent an alert to our contacts in Montana about a bill there, and the Senate voted down the Ten Commandments in schools. Likewise, the North Dakota House defeated a Ten Commandments bill, as did the House in South Dakota. A Ten Commandments bill in Mississippi died in committee. 

• Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)-related bills are also being proposed in Georgia, where a similar law was vetoed by the governor last year. In Kentucky, the Senate has passed SB 60, which is an amendment to the state’s RFRA. 

• Lastly, an unexpected area of legislative activity this year concerns the creation of religious release time for public school students, allowing them to receive off-campus religious education for school credit. Measures are being debated in Alabama and Montana. A “Parents Bill of Rights” law enacted in Ohio earlier this year includes a religious release time requirement.

Public schools should be free of religious indoctrination and should make all students and parents feel welcome, regardless of their faith or choice not to follow a faith tradition. With so many bills advancing all across the country, it will take all of us working together to maintain vigilance in monitoring these bills and opposing them if necessary. Christians who believe in religious liberty for all should be wary of efforts by government officials to impose religious viewpoints on young children in our public schools.

Stay tuned.